This Food Isn't Good Enough for You?

John 6:24-35

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost  -  5 August 2018

Rev. John Derme

You’re having company over tonight, so you are cooking dinner. The people who are coming are important to you, so you want everything to be just right. You've spent a lot of money buying the best ingredients you can find. You've spent a lot of time to prepare the food. This meal has just the right balance of nutrition. The meal also tastes fantastic.

Everything is ready just as your company arrives. Even the timing is just right. You have your guests sit down at the table. You can’t wait to see how much they enjoy the food, and how much they appreciate all of your effort. So you place the food before them. First, one of the kids says, "I don’t like this stuff. I want some candy, instead." Then one of the adults says, "Yeah, we just stopped at the drive through, so we're not hungry at all."

How would you feel? You would be frustrated! What would you be thinking? You would think about all the time and money and effort you spent, and how they didn’t even understand how good it was. What would you say? You might ask, "This food isn't good enough for you?

In the Gospel of the Day, we see that Jesus offers the best, most satisfying thing that everybody needs. He offers himself. And he speaks of this offer in terms of food. But we also see that people don't understand how important he is. They don’t care. They don't believe in him. Jesus could ask, "This food isn't good enough for you?"

Food was on people's minds, because, as we heard two Sundays ago, Jesus had recently fed over 5000 people with five small loaves of bread. The people responded to his miracle by trying to make Jesus their king by force. So he left across the lake. The people of the crowd realized that he was no longer with them, so they stole some boats and chased him down.

When they found Jesus, they asked him when he had gotten there. But Jesus dispensed with the small talk and got straight to their true motives. They hadn't followed after him because they believed in him. They just wanted him to give them more free food. He warned them not to work for food that spoils. The bread that Jesus had given them with his miracle was still ordinary bread that would only keep them alive for a short time. He wanted to give them far better food that would give them eternal life.

The people didn't understand him at all. They liked the idea of getting eternal life. But they assumed that they would have to earn it. So they asked what they had to do to accomplish the works that God requires. Jesus turned their question on its head with his answer. He told them that it's not the work that you do. It's the work that God does that gives you eternal life. He gives you faith to believe in his Son.

Oddly, the people demanded a miraculous sign before they would believe in him. They were chasing after him precisely because he had performed a miracle! But they had totally missed the fact that it was a sign that Jesus was their Savior. The miracle he had done wasn't good enough for them.

Many Jews at Jesus' time expected that when the Messiah would come, he would renew the miracle of the manna. We heard about how God gave the Israelites manna in the First Lesson from the book of Exodus. In a way, by feeding over 5000 people with a miraculous gift of bread, Jesus was fulfilling that expectation.  But they wanted a permanent supply of bread from heaven to fill their bellies, like Moses had given.

They were wrong about three things, so Jesus corrected them. First, it wasn't Moses who had given the manna, but the Lord. Second, the manna wasn't the true bread from heaven. Jesus was. Third, the manna was limited in time, but the true bread, Jesus, would feed them forever. Jesus gives life eternal, not just physically, but also spiritually, and not just to the Israelites, but to the whole world. Which is better?

Finally, Jesus spoke to them with words that they could not misunderstand. He said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." Jesus invited them to be satisfied in him.

How could they miss the gracious invitation in Jesus' words? It really doesn't surprise us that they did, because we live in a world filled with people just like those in the crowd. They have heard about Jesus. Maybe you have told them. They are invited to churches like ours to come and receive the good gifts he wants to give them. But they don't understand. They don't care to understand. They think they have so many more important things to have and do. Jesus isn't good enough for them.

It distresses us. Yet that doesn't surprise us, either, because you and I are tempted into that exact same sin. You and I know and understand more about Jesus. We know how important it is to be here where he gives out his gifts. But as important as it is, it's also important for me to sleep in and rest up every so often on Sundays. And it's important for me to go out to Sunday brunch with my friends and feed my body every once in a while. And today I'm just too busy earning money at work and doing all the other things I want to do to read my Bible with my family. And after we make an exception here or there, it becomes easy to make another exception. And even though we’d never say that it's not important, when we make all these exceptions, it sure doesn't look like we care. We think we understand Jesus, but when we make so many other things in our lives more important than him, we are in danger of losing our faith in him.

You have many important things to do in your life. It is important for you to work and earn money and have food and possessions and enjoy time with your friends. But are any of those blessings more important than the blessings that Jesus offers to you in his gospel? Not at all!

Today Jesus offers and gives you the most important gift that you could ever receive. He offers you himself. He offers himself to you in the Word that we hear and read, in the gospel that we sing and speak to each other, in the body and blood that he gives us here at the altar. He offers himself to you every Sunday here at church and in Bible study. He offers himself to you throughout the week in the study of his Word here at church and in the reading of the Scriptures in our homes. He proclaims what he has done for you. He has lived, died, and risen for you! He invites you to believe in him. Trust that good news! Through faith he gives you everything you need. Your sins are forgiven! Eternal life is yours!

So don’t let anything distract you from how important Jesus is to you. That would be like turning your nose up at a nutritious, delicious meal for junk food that doesn't satisfy you. Jesus prepares a feast of blessings for you. He has laid them before you. Don't refuse his gifts! Don’t go back to the famine of a life without Jesus! Enjoy his gifts! Find satisfaction in him!

Is the food that Jesus offers you in his Word and sacrament good enough for you? It is far better than we deserve! It is the greatest feast that we could ever enjoy! Jesus is everything that we could ever want or need!